Irregular plurals...

Esther was struggling to reconcile her experience of the irregular plural form of foot (feet) yesterday with her understanding of the rule for forming plurals (add an s); here is an approximation of the conversation:

Esther: Look at my feet!
Mom: Very nice feet...
Esther: I have two...foots.
Mom: You do have two feet.
Esther: No! You have feet, I have foots!

And apparently satisfied with her resolution, she went off to play.

Singing

Luke is in the bathroom singing over and over this phrase: "You'll never get recycling again!" in a very operatic voice...I have no idea why!

Nothing-artificial playdough

I just wanted to pass along a link to this great tutorial explaining how to use natural, home-made dyes to dye your own playdough. By the way, if you've never made your own playdough, it's really, really easy so don't be intimidated!

Family Mission Statement

We've been working on this for awhile, here is a tentative final draft:

"We, the .......... Family, were established as an eternal family by the authority and power of our Heavenly Father. Our Father in Heaven has placed each of us in this family in order to help and support one another in fulfilling our divinely ordained purposes on this Earth. As children of God, we seek to live in accordance with His will and commandments, and to someday return to Him, together with every member of our eternal family.

We help one another in this endeavor by applying the principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities as a family. We follow our family compass in seeking to fill our minds with truth, fill our hearts with love, and fill our lives with service. As individuals and as a family we seek the Lord's guidance in our lives, and strive to keep the commandments of God and to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost in all that we do. We choose to use our time, talents, and resources for the best purposes, and to maintain a standard of excellence, goodness, and virtue in every area of our lives. We seek to strengthen and support one another in all righteous endeavors and to stand as lights and examples to those around us so that they too will desire to draw nearer to God. We know that, as we do these things, we will find peace and joy in this life even in the midst of trials, and that in time we will enjoy the blessings of Eternal Life as a family."

A Few of my Favorite People

Mark--growing up fast!

Lily on a camel ride at the zoo

In the rainforest exhibit

Esther, Luke, Lily, Mark and Dad

Sharing the pool

Lily is taking a swimming class this week--at the base pool. This morning, another class was taking place at the same time: a unit of Marines were training for combat operations in water. The picture's a bit blurry because it comes from a friend's cell phone, but here you see a swimming instructor with a child (not mine so I blurred the face) just a few feet from one of the Marines swimming in full combat gear, rifle at the ready...

The kids were having a hard time focusing on their swimming lessons, especially the boys...

In other news, Esther swallowed a marble today--a metal one from a magnetic construction set. She had to get an X-ray just to make sure it was indeed swallowed and not inhaled. Sure enough there was a bright white circle in her stomach...
I guess if you're going to swallow something other than food, a marble's not a bad choice--it's nice and round so it's unlikely to get stuck or cause any damage as it works it's way through the digestive tract!

Kid Quotes

Today's quotes are brought to you by Lily, age 6, and Esther, age 2:

Lily, distressed to see mom cutting broccoli for a dinner dish:
"Mom, don't you know that adding broccoli to that unimproves the flavor?"

And my favorite, from this morning's family devotional--
Dad (reading about the baptism of Jesus): "The Holy Ghost descended in the form of a ___" (pauses for the children to respond)
Esther: "Octopus!"

Needless to say, it took us awhile to return to some semblance of reverence and continue the scripture reading...